


Palm Reading

by vastimagines



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Comfort, Depression, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, post 160
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23866888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vastimagines/pseuds/vastimagines
Summary: Jon doesn't know how to cope and Martin may not know how to read palms but, he does know how to make Jon feel better.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims
Comments: 12
Kudos: 127





	Palm Reading

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS FOR EP 160
> 
> I saw a video by awkwardemons on tiktok and it was so cute and perfect that I transferred it into writing form. This one goes out to you, my dude! I absolutely adore your videos.

It’d been a day; a day since he had started the end of the world. Martin seemed to be holding up despite, well, everything. The thought did occur to Jon however that Martin could be simply holding down the fort as it were for Jon’s sake.

Jon remembered coming to with Martin hovering over him. Shattered glass on the floor and the howling of the wind making itself at home within the walls that should have kept them safe. The sky that was staring back as everything came crashing down around him, and there he was, stuck in this room with his shuttering limbs and shallow breaths.

He could hear everything out there; everything that was happening and everything that wasn’t. All the life that had ceased to simple existence, all the screams and howling moans, and they were everywhere; and he was here. All the noise in his head and he was here, in this small cabin, with Martin, where it was quiet. Maybe the last quiet place in the whole world. They survived. Just Martin and him.

There was a quiet knock on the door and Jon looked up at Martin just in the doorway, a weary smile on his face.  
Jon gave a pitiful attempt at a smile that probably looked worse than it would have if he hadn’t tried at all, and he looked down to his hands in his lap.  
Was he crying? His head hurt.

His head hung low as he listened to Martin’s footsteps come nearer. There was so much noise and so much sound rushing, and he just wanted it to stop. If he could make it all stop for one- maybe four seconds and just have quiet…

On the edge of his sight, he saw Martin join him, sitting on the old mattress. Martin’s hand reached out and touched Jon’s, gently tugging his hands out of the contained mess of his shirt. Martin held his hands in his between them, hovering over the mattress. Jon looked up and saw Martin’s gentle face.

“I’m here for you,” he said.

Jon pushed words out of his throat. “I know. I just…” he looked down, so aware of his breathing. Martin’s thumb ran over the skin of his hand and a small part of Jon’s mind settled. “I can hear everything,” he said slowly “The screams and the nothing and the endlessness outside…”

Martin held his hands tighter. “Hey.” His fingers ran smoothly over Jon’s. “Look at me. Jon, look at me.”

Jon pulled his head up and Martin inhaled slowly, then exhaled.

“Breathe with me.” And Jon did.

They slowly breathed in and out, holding their breaths between, and Jon could feel the rushing in his head settle, making his thoughts all too clear. He shook his head, pulling his hands from Martin’s.

“I asked Elias once.”

“Asked him what?” Martin asked.

“I asked him if I was still human if I’d ever been human. Do you want to know what he said?”

Martin’s response was quick, not missing a beat. “No.”

Jon glanced up. He was surprised. Maybe that was the wrong reaction, but he was.

“Jon, I don’t care what Elias has to say about you or anyone else.”

Jon wrung his hands in his shirt. “I’m not normal, Martin. You know that I know that. I’m…” The last words clung together in his throat. This is what he was. He couldn’t even admit to himself what he was, but he knew Martin knew what he wouldn’t let himself admit. He had to know.

“Give me your hand.”

Jon looked back at Martin, his hands still firmly tied up in his shirt. “Why?”

Martin smiled that gentle smile of his, like despite everything that had happened, everything Jon had done, he knew it would be okay. “Just let me see it. Please.”

He pulled his hand out from the mess of his shirt and laid it in front of Martin who took it gently in his.

Martin hummed and ran a finger over the different lines of Jon’s hand. “This one’s your love line,” he said, trailing his finger over a line in Jon’s hand.

Jon scoffed “Really Martin?”

Martin smirked. “Hey, do you have any proof it’s not accurate?”

“Well-”

“So, shhh,” he said, putting a finger to Jon’s lips, successfully convincing Jon to keep quiet.

“This one,” Martin said, “says you have a long lifeline.” Martin trailed his finger over Jon’s palm, the sensation loosening his nerves. “Oh, and this one means you're shy.”

Jon felt his cheeks glow as Martin looked up to him with a smile. Maybe Martin was making all of this up, but Jon dismissed that thought; it didn’t matter.

Martin looked back at Jon’s hand. “Hm, that’s interesting.”

“What?” Jon asked suddenly, curiosity taking over.

“I don’t see any.”

“Any what?”

Martin looked back up. “Monster lines. Not a single one.”

Jon felt something in his chest move and he had absolutely no idea what it was. The back of his eyes hurt and Martin’s face started to blur in front of him.

Martin held onto Jon’s hand with both of his now. “You are not an evil person, Jonathan Sims. You’ve answered for your mistakes, just like everyone answers for their own mistakes. We’ve all grown and learned and so have you.” Martin moved his hand under Jon’s cheek, and Jon didn’t stop himself leaning into his touch. “You are doing your best, and that is the highest quality of what anyone could want of you. You are human, Jon, and so am I, and we’re going to get through this together.”

Jon could feel tears start to run, but he just leaned into Martin. Maybe one day he would believe all that Martin had said. Maybe one day.

Martin moved closer and put his arms around Jon, and he simply fell into his grasp, and for once, he was focused on this. Jon heard the quiet of the cabin and Martin’s heartbeat and their slow breathing, and he was calm, and in a quiet voice, he whispered, “Thank you, Martin.”

He felt Martin’s lips on the crown of his head, and he closed his eyes in the embrace of the man he loved so dearly.


End file.
